For those of you looking ahead to the NBA draft this June,do not get caught up in all the hoop-la for Greg Oden.People who watch NBA basketball love showtime and this year's college draft will give you plenty of showtime.

If you want a 6ft 9" player that can play small forward,probably point guard and shooting guard that makes players better,can create his own shot,can change the play on his drive to the hoop if he is double teamed,can dribble the ball well,can brake down a defender with ease,then you are looking at a gem in Corey Brewer of Florida.In fact ,Brewer can even block a shot with those long arms.

When Brewer is on the court with Noah and Al Horford at the same time,Florida appears unbeatable.Florida has 2 lost games this year,but none in the all important conference.Arkansas was a fierce opponent for Florida tonight,but when Florida had their 3 stars on the court at the same time,you knew Florida was the better team.

Florida has lost games to Kansas and Florida St this season,but in my view if these teams met in the tournament Florida would win.Florida has too many weapons.Humphrey is a great 3 point shooter and Green can score with ease.Florida does everything possible to get all their players involved in the game.

You may see Oden,Durant,Noah and Wright go 1-4 in the draft,but the teams who skip on Brewer will pay a big price in the coming years.He could turn out to be a better version of Coron Butler.

Has anybody noticed this season if you can get Ohio State into a running game they are not a good opened court team.They start 3 guards and then put Daequan Cook in the game early,but they lack a good power forward.I do not see Ohio State in the final 2.

To me Durant is the best player in the draft untill oden can prove himself to me. He got dominated by Florida's frontline and his team seemed to be playing better before he returned from injury. Brewer is a good player, he reminds me a lot of Josh howard on the mavs but i doubt if hes the same caliber as durant or oden. Another guy i like a lot that the warriors might have a chance at is marcus williams for arizona. If he turned out to be good he would make dung obsolete.

Durant will either bust or own the league. Oden will be good but I don't see him being a top tier superstar in the changing league that devalues centers. Noah's stock is falling. I think durant will be the best, but 6'10" and up guys who supposedly play like guards have never fared well

If I'm sure of anything, is that Noah is going to be bust. Book it. After all, I predicted Stromile Swift was going to be the new KG. I'm never wrong.

But I really believe Noah won't become a star. A role player at best.

I agree with Pest about Oden. I see him as a very good player... and will be a star simply because the center position is so lousy. Still, can't go wrong with him.

Durant... I'm not sure of him yet. Time will tell.

About the rest of the draft, Brewer, Rudy Fernandez, Belinelli, Julian Wright, Brendan Wright and Al Horford are going to have good careers in the league. Splitter is a wild card. Can be an all star of be out of the league in 3 years.

Two interesting names. Marc Gasol (Pau's brother) is probably a late first or early second round pick. Would be an interesting one at those posts. A very physical player, the complete opposite of his brother when he was drafted (and, of course, less talented). Think of David Lee (the Knicks player).

And Yi Jian Li... who's going to beat the record for most dunked over rookie in history.

I also think Kevin Durant is the best player in this draft. He is 6-10, maybe 6-11 and he can shoot, dribble, pass and play like a legitimate small forward or even shooting guard. He reminds me a bit of a taller Tracy McGrady. I think he will be a star in the NBA.

As for Oden, I am not sold on him. I know his wrist is not fully heeled but he seems like a very one-dimensional, defensive-minded center. His offensive game is lacking big time and I do not see the instincts and dominance from Oden that everyone said he would play with and like. I am not saying he does not have the tools to be good, but at this point, I do not think he is a shoe-in #1 pick and on top of that, I do not see Oden being "the next great NBA center" as many have proclaimed.

Joakim Noah.....as I wrote in another thread a month ago, what is the difference between Noah and Anderson Varejao of the Cavaliers? Both lack offensive games and rely on defense and energy to play. I think Noah will be a decent role player in the NBA, but I am not seeing how this guy can dominate a game at all.

Corey Brewer is a good player. He is good, not geat, at all aspects of the game and he will warrant a lottery pick if he keeps it up.

Tyler Hansbrough is a guy I do not think will do well in the NBA. He has a college body and can dominate the post in college, but at 6-9, that is a small forward in the NBA (most of the time). I do not see how his moves will translate well to a taller, quicker and stronger NBA. I might be wrong, but my gut is telling me Hansbrough will not do well in the NBA.

I am sure there are plenty of other players to comment on, but these are the ones that came to mind when it comes to the top of the 2007 draft.

Durant is a great player. He was dominant during that Tennessee/Texas game and pretty much was the only Longhorn doing anything in the last few minutes and overtime.

With that said, please don't jump off the Oden bandwagon too early. The refs took him out of the Florida game with ticky tack fouls. When he was in, however, he did play very well, turning away several shots from future pro's and working through double and triple teams. What is a shame is that the Buckeye guards chuck it up way too much from down town instead of getting Oden the ball. If I was Thad Matta and Oden only got off 6 shots while every wingman/guard launched up 12 I would go ballistic.

The point is Oden, who's just getting up to speed and still not over his injury, is still the best player in the draft, although Durant will be a star. It could end up being like the 1984 draft with Oden being Hakeem and Durant being Jordan. Not saying that either will be as good as their counterparts, but you can't blame Houston for passing on a Jordan type player when they did get Hakeem out of it.

As far as the rest go:
Noah = garbage.
B Wright will be very good or great.
Hansborough = Madsen 2.0.
Thabeet will take some time but he'll be pretty good.
J Wright will be serviceable to very good.
Jianlian will have a rough curve but will eventually be good.
Marcus Williams will be very good.
Gray = Ostertag 2.0
Green will be a poor man's Al Jefferson
Horford will be very good.
Brewer will be serviceable.
Thaddeus Young will be a steal wherever he goes.
Ajinca = Joel Freeland 2.0

Overall, however, this will be a very good/great draft assuming everyone who comes out does come out.

Taking from Thunders list...
As far as the rest go:
Noah = Jared Jefferies minimum...
B Wright will be very good or great.
Hansborough = Better than Madsen and Najera. D. Lee-ish
Thabeet will take some time but he'll be pretty good.
J Wright will be serviceable to very good.
Jianlian will have a rough curve but will eventually be good.
Marcus Williams will be very good.
Gray = Ostertag 2.0
Green will be a poor man's Al Jefferson
Horford will be very good.
Brewer will be VERY GOOD...
Thaddeus Young will be a steal wherever he goes.
Ajinca = ???

I'm a Brewer advocate for sho...

Last edited by zero3zero on Thu Jan 11, 2007 8:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

what gets me is a guy like monta ellis slips to the mid 2nd round. granted, he had a few injuries, but are you for real? maybe scouts were too scared to roll out to jackson mississippi, to sound the young man, because apparently he grew up in the hood. what is so impressive about him is listening to him talk and seeing his demeanor you would never know it. lock this guy up, hes going to be amazing! he's got stones, he's got humbleness, and he's got talent = greatness

"Losing is inevitably close to winning," Guber said. "They're inches apart. Drama. If you have drama, you've got a ticket to sell." "They're not real fans," Lacob said. "They don't have season tickets."

Darrel Arthur and Ajinca in 07 for the GSW's, but I think 2 or 3 talented wing players will fall and be available in rnd 1. I like Brewer alot but it wouldn't make much sense taking him in the top 20. Trade Murphy for scraps and buy out Foyle. One or two ( 2-3 million ) FA vets can cover for a year or two + POB's developement and we'll be fine ***030***